This is so true. "...Finishing [a marathon] is unquestionably strenuous but also can be elating; the experience combines objective pain and subjective emotions."A well run race hurts less than the catastrophic ones; i.e. the subjective feelings of success overwhelm the objective pain.

I'm not going to destroy the pure joy of running by getting obsessed over how many seconds faster I can go in a race than the last time. It's so chill and it's my personal time to be alone in thought. To me it defeats the purpose of a prime way to mellow out if you get caught up in trying to prove something when nobody gives a rat's ass. I get enough of that shit at work and in school every day. Running frees me of that.

Aches and pains happen for a reason. Spare me the happy heroic shit about "triumphing." Those aches and pains are telling you something.